Unable to Wait
by Pop the Question
Summary: Edward comes back from a two week long business trip with a little gift for the love of his life, Bella. With the intention to wait some time to ask her a very important question, he realizes he's unable to wait. Will Bella accept?


Pop the Question Contest Entry

Title: Unable to Wait

Word Count (without the A/Ns and header): 4884

Pairing: Edward/Bella; AH

Rating: M

Summary: Edward comes back from a two week long business trip with a little gift for the love of his life, Bella. With the intention to wait some time to ask her a very important question, he realizes he's unable to wait. Will Bella accept?

Warnings (if any): Language and a lemon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer does. The plot is mine though and I'm using Twilight to convey it. No copyright infringement is intended. I also don't own the quote that will be mentioned below – the rights belong to Shawna Waltemyer.

**Unable to Wait**

**-ooOoo-**

**EPOV**

Being away from Bella is tough. She's the love of my life and going on these damn business trips make me miss her a lot. I'm usually gone for a week, but it's been about two this time around, and I can't take it anymore.

We've been together since junior year of college – four years already. That's a long time compared to the past relationships I've had. Most of them were lucky if they got to six months, but I've been with Bella for _four years._

At first, we hated each other, forced to partner up for a project in a prerequisite business class the first semester in our third year at UW. We just couldn't get along. Our assignment was to come up with a sales pitch for a common household item, mentioning the pros of the items and establishing a direct marketing plan. 'Who would benefit from using it?' – et cetera, et cetera.

We got laundry detergent as our item, and Bella and I constantly fought over how to make this project happen. Of course, laundry detergent is a household item used by many people, and it's mostly directed toward women. In my eyes, it's always women who do the laundry. My mother or grandmother always did my laundry. I never once had to do a load for me or anyone. What was good about being in Seattle was that it was only three hours away from home. I could spend my weekend home, and my mother would do my laundry.

But oh no! Bella had a fit.

She's sort of a feminist – like she supports that a woman can go to work and be the bread winner in the family, or at least be a part of a two income family. She doesn't need to be a fucking housewife to be accomplished, or let the man control her. She's independent. But why she's not completely feminist is because she wants what her parents had. She wants love, a marriage, some kids, and a home. She wants a happy ending with all that good stuff, while maintaining her independence.

A lot of feminists are against relationships that come down to marriage. Marriage means being tied permanently to someone, and they don't want that. They like freedom. And some feminists are just against men in general. At least, that's what Bella has read. I really don't care.

So, all we did was argue about this damn project, and at one point, we both didn't want to do it with eachother anymore. Eventually, we attempted to work out our differences for the sake of our grades in this class, and we got an A.

We celebrated our success on the project that night… and ended up going home with each other. Our lips were attached as soon as we got in the taxi to head to my place and when we plowed through the door, our hands were everywhere at once, fighting to get our clothes off.

And the rest is history.

We dated. We fucked. We had fun. And the day I realized I was in love with her was one month after that fateful night at the bar. One month to make me see that Bella was the one for me, and I was the one for her.

We graduated and got different jobs in the business world, but we stayed by eachother's sides the entire time.

Yeah, we fought… some of them getting pretty loud that other tenants in our apartment building were telling us to shut up. But what couple doesn't? And if you don't fight, something's up.

I read some quote that says, "_The couple that fights the most is the one most in love… it shows that they care enough to notice the other one screwed up and care enough to mention it to the person so they can fix it. When you stop fighting, it means you stopped caring."_ And I truly believe that.

Plus, there's awesome make up sex.

And when we weren't fighting, there's just amazing moments when we make love. And one time gave us a gift nine months later – our daughter Chloe, who is the light of my life. She's one now, and she's already so big.

Now that I've established my history with Bella, I'm back to where I was going with this. It hurts that my job sends me on these week long business trips every month or so. It means that one week out of a month I'm away from my two favorite girls. And this time around I've been gone for two weeks in New York. Skype and phone calls are what have kept me from jumping on the next flight back to Seattle.

Luckily, I had a couple of days in between all to myself. I used that time to web chat with Bella (since she's now a stay at home mom for the time being), and coo at my baby girl. I loved her reactions to seeing me on the computer screen. Or I'd enjoy some solitary time in Central Park or go to one of the many museums NYC has to offer.

Now that it's been two weeks since I've seen Bella and my trip here is over, I now had one more day to myself before I had to catch a flight back to Seattle tomorrow afternoon. I used that time to walk around with my co-worker and best friend Jasper Whitlock, who is Bella's best friend, Alice's husband. We somehow hit 5th Avenue, one of the busiest streets in the city because of all its stores – expensive, designer dud kind of stores. I could never afford to buy clothes or whatever else was being sold here on a constant basis like some people who live here can. I mean, I get a hefty paycheck, and a fucking good bonus at the end of the year, but I wouldn't live in this city and buy all their expensive shit with the money I've earned whenever I got paid.

Just no.

But Alice Whitlock is a shopaholic and designer loving freak. She would literally die if we didn't get her something from one of the stores on 5th Avenue. So since we were on 5th Avenue, we might as well try to find a store that Alice would love to go in.

Problem was was that she'd love to go and buy something from every store. So we don't know what to get her!

And if Jasper was getting something for his wife, I should get something for my two girls.

Then we passed Tiffany's. _The_ Tiffany's. The world renowned jewelry store that was quite popular for their engagement rings

And it just hit me.

I loved Bella. I knew she was it for me. We've been together for quite some time now and we have a daughter together. Life couldn't get any more perfect than that, except I'd like to make us _completely_ official, _completely_ tied to one another because we saw us doing it. We just never got around to it.

I wanted to marry Isabella Marie Swan, mother to our daughter, Chloe Rose Cullen, and love of my life.

"We're going in here, Jazz," I quickly said when we reached the doors, me dragging Jasper by his shirt collar to get him to follow me. Otherwise he'd be completely lost.

The store was fucking huge! And there were so many display cases that you just don't want to touch anything without the fear of breaking something or smudging the glass.

One of the saleswomen came over to us and asked, "Can I help you two gentlemen?" It was in the sickly sweet way, mind you. She knew we were two men in here for a reason. She knew we had no idea where to start and weren't leaving until we got what we wanted. And that meant great commission for her. Plus, I was getting two things. And I assumed Jasper would pick up something nice for Alice here. She'd definitely love something from Tiffany's.

"Uh, yes. Engagement rings."

Jasper gawked at what I just said. He knew of my love for Bella, and knew that we'd one day tie the knot. He just didn't expect me to go buy a ring in New York now.

"You're in the right place then!" She led us over to the large display cases filled with engagement rings of all sizes and colors. I wanted platinum, so we were headed in the direction of the displayed platinum engagement rings.

"Do you see a particular style you like or what your soon-to-be fiancée would like?"

I bit my lip in thought, looking over the rings displayed to find the perfect one for Bella. She's a simple girl who doesn't like anything too big or flashy. Though I knew she wouldn't mind a few little diamonds. I mean, she'd probably bite my head off for getting her and Chloe something from Tiffany's; it's best to keep it as simple as possible, but beautiful, just like her.

My eyes trailed over more of the rings when they landed on one ring. And I knew it was the one Bella would love. It's in the Lucida display case – square diamond in the center, the band having two thin branches of tiny diamonds embedded in the platinum before moving into the all platinum band.

I pointed at the one I wanted. "That one. That's Bella."

"We have a few options with carat size. Let me show you them," the saleswoman said, disappearing below to pull out the other rings of the same one I wanted.

"I'm gonna go look around. See if I can find something for Alice. Have fun," Jasper told me before walking away. I guess he could tell that this is for me to experience. He knows how Bella is, but it's not him who's gonna be wearing the ring. Bella is, so he can't help me make the decision on what ring to get. If I wanted to propose to Bella, I had to do this on my own.

The lady pulled out the other carat sizes of the same ring. The biggest one, the 2.5 carat, was ridiculously huge. I knew, one, I couldn't afford it, and two, it wasn't Bella. So I shook my head 'no' at the two and 2.5 carat rings.

The smallest one was nice, but the diamond was too small for a ring that had more diamonds on the sides… it looked lost somehow – not a focus point on the ring. At least in my eyes it did.

I finally settled on the one that was right smack in the middle – the 0.5 carat. It was the perfect size and just all around perfect for Bella. I knew she'd love it. It was simple and beautiful.

"Would you like to buy wedding bands? We have a few nice ones that are in the same family as this engagement ring," the saleswoman then said. I was too busy staring at this perfect ring that her speaking up made me jump.

"Sorry. Uh, yeah. Why not?" I smiled.

She helped me pick out two wedding bands that suited me and Bella perfectly. I picked out a simple platinum band, nothing embedded in it, for me, and a thin platinum band with a half circle of diamonds for Bella to match her ring. I had the option to get the three rings engraved, but I politely declined in having it done because I didn't live in New York, and I was leaving tomorrow. I was told that there were two Tiffany's in Seattle I could visit should I ever decide to engrave.

Then I asked her to help me pick out something non-jewelry for Chloe. She's a one year old baby girl, so there's nothing for her to wear now, which would be pointless to get something she couldn't wear at the moment, and if there was, she'd grow out of it so quickly that buying something for her to wear and then grow out of would also be pointless.

She suggested a piggy bank. I didn't think of a piggy bank when I stepped into Tiffany's, but they did carry a bunch of baby gifts, including a few piggy banks for both boys and girls. After showing me some, I picked the pink bunny bank for Chloe. With my purchases made, I found Jasper purchasing a lovely necklace for Alice.

After this long day of shopping, I wanted to crash in my hotel room until tomorrow afternoon when I caught my flight back home.

**-ooOoo-**

Right before I was about to leave the hotel I was so sick of to head back home to Seattle where my other half was, I called Bella to tell her that in a little more than six hours I'd be home.

"I can't wait, Edward. I've missed you so much. _We've_ missed you," Bella cried.

"I've missed you, too, baby. And Chloe. At least it'll be a few more months before the next trip, so I get to spend all the other times I'm not working with you and her."

"Alright. Have a safe flight, Edward. I love you."

"I will. I promise. I love you, too, baby. Give Chloe a kiss for me."

"Of course. Bye, Edward."

"Bye, love." Then I heard the click of the phone by her hand. It was time to go to JFK. Jasper had gotten off the phone with Alice and then we took a cab to the airport. The line for security wasn't too bad, though I hoped nothing happened to the suitcase that held the ring and the gift for Chloe. That would truly suck if those were misplaced. After checking in our suitcases, we took a seat to wait for our flight to board. That was the longest wait.

In my head, I was thinking of when I should propose to Bella. I was thinking on our fifth year anniversary this coming November. It was May right now. That's only six months away. Not too bad. Plus I could do it close to the holiday season when we'd be seeing our families together, so we could announce the news then.

_OK,_ I told myself. _I'll wait till November._

It was when we were halfway to Seattle that I my head was running on overdrive. I kept going over things of 'where would I hide the ring?', 'what if Bella found it unintentionally before I intended to propose to her?', and 'what if I wasn't home for our fifth year anniversary because of a business trip?'. I wanted to be home for our fifth year of being together and propose to her, not away on some trip.

Then I felt my heart tug. It was telling me that six months was too far away. Today was the day I should do it. I didn't want those thoughts coming true, but those weren't the main reasons I should do it tonight. It was just right because it was. It really hurts me to be away from Bella and Chloe. I could barely go two weeks without her. And when I'm with them, I can barely stay away. I've never had any doubts in my mind that Bella and I weren't meant to be together. I should propose to Bella tonight because there wasn't any need to wait for a perfect moment when the perfect moment would be when I'm finally home with her and Chloe.

And shouldn't the perfect moment be perfect because it wasn't completely planned? I think so. I knew I was gonna ask her tonight, but when, where and how I didn't. But I knew it would be right.

Plus now I know I wouldn't have lasted six months. I would have done it much sooner than around Thanksgiving on our anniversary of the night we got together.

I loved Bella so much that I would wait forever for her, but I was now practically bouncing in my seat, wanting to be home and wanting to get down on one knee and slip this ring on her finger.

**-ooOoo-**

Finally the plane landed and it was taking forever for me and Jasper to get off the plane into the terminal. I needed to get to baggage claim to make sure the suitcase with Bella's ring made it here.

It did. Thank _fucking_ God!

With our bags with us, we ran outside to the waiting cabs to take us home. We said our goodbyes, separating to go to two different cabs because he lived a bit further from me and it would take one of us forever to get home – and I just wanted to get home to my girls and propose to Bella.

"Good luck, man. But I know she's gonna say yes. So don't fucking worry about that," he told me.

"Thanks, Jazz. When she says yes, you'll probably be hearing glass shatter," I said.

"Why?"

"Because it'll be Alice's screams of joy when Bella calls that would cause glass to shatter."

He laughed and flipped me off before ducking into his cab. I did, too, telling the cabbie my address so I could go home. Home was where my heart was, and she's been waiting two fucking long weeks to see me and be in my arms.

Half an hour later I was dropped off in front of mine and Bella's home. Two weeks it's been since I've been in my house, in my bed. I really can't wait to sleep in there next to Bella with her in my arms.

I wanted to surprise Bella because my flight landed earlier than it was scheduled to because of good weather (for once), so I quietly unlocked the door and stepped in, placing my bags in the hallway and slipping off my shoes. I unzipped my bag and pulled out the engagement ring, pocketing it on the inside of my sports coat.

It was seven at night, and I knew Bella would be feeding Chloe about now. As I silently shuffled to the kitchen, I could hear Bella making funny and cute noises to get Chloe to open her mouth.

"Here comes the choo-choo train! Chug-a, chug-a, chug-a, chug-a, choo choo!" Bella would say in a baby voice, moving the spoon towards Chloe's mouth, where she'd open it and accept the food gratefully. Both my girls were smiling and laughing, and I failed to keep my being home a secret because I let out a low chuckle.

Bella whipped around with a look of surprise on her face before a huge happy grin appeared on her beautiful face and happy tears spilled from her eyes.

"Dada!" Chloe squealed.

"Hi baby," I whispered to Bella.

She dropped the small bowl of mashed potatoes onto Chloe's high chair and shot up from her seat, running at full force to me. I caught her in my arms as she placed kisses all over my face, telling me how much she missed and loved me, before latching her mouth on mine. _Damn I missed her kisses._

"You're home," she murmured.

"I'm home, sweetheart."

"Oh thank God! I've been so miserable." _You and me both, baby._ "Chloe was the only one who could make me smile and make me look forward to the day you'd come home."

"What? Alice couldn't keep you busy?"

"She kept me busy alright. Shopping, shopping and more shopping. A girl like me could only take so much, Edward."

I laughed and kissed her once more as I placed her back on her feet, hugging her tight to my body. We just molded well together, two halves of a puzzle.

It's unbelievable that for two months before we officially got together we hated eachother, and now we hated being apart. And it's unbelievable it's been a little more than four years since then and we had a life together and a beautiful daughter together.

And now I was gonna pick up my daughter, tuck her in her crib, kiss her goodnight and then ask Bella the question I've been dying to ask her since yesterday – maybe my whole life with her.

"Hi honey!" I coo to Chloe, lifting her up in my arms and nuzzling her cheek, making her giggle loudly. "I missed you so much!"

"Dada!"

"I love you, princess. Let's put you to bed." I then carried her upstairs, Bella following me, changed her diaper and put her pajamas on. I rocked her back and forth as I hummed a little lullaby to her that always lulled her to sleep. Gently I laid her down in the crib and turned on the mobile above her head so the soothing sound of it running would keep her asleep.

Bella was watching me from the doorway, watching me do my thing with Chloe. Two weeks I haven't been able to kiss my daughter, play with her and sing her her lullaby. So Bella let me have my time to do it.

I reached her and pulled her into my arms and kissed her lovingly on her lips before resting my forehead against hers. "I love you, Bella. So much. I'm extremely blessed to have you in my life and that we have Chloe together. You two are my world and I'd be nothing without you.

"I was gonna wait a few months to do this, but on my way home I knew I couldn't wait. I had to do this. And it was because you are my world that I wouldn't be able to wait, Bella. I'm so lucky to have you, to be in your presence at all. And I would feel even luckier if you weren't just my longtime girlfriend and the mother to our child, but…" I trailed off, pulling the ring box out of the inside of my jacket pocket and kneeling down on one knee. Bella gasped as she saw me kneel down and open the box to reveal the engagement ring. "…if you were my wife.

"So Bella… love of my life… will you marry me and make me the happiest guy in the world?"

Bella let out a sob that she's been holding in since she saw me kneel down, tears pouring down from her eyes. She smiled, her eyes glittering happily even if it was the light hitting the water in her eyes, and she answered, "Yes!"

I sighed deeply because I was holding my breath, anxious for her answer and hoping she'd accept my proposal. And when she exclaimed 'yes!' I jumped up and slipped the ring on her finger, before lifting her up off her feet and twirling her around, pecking kisses all over her face, catching all the spilt tears.

"I love you, Edward!" Bella cried.

"I love you, too, Bella."

"We're getting married?"

"Yes, sweetheart. We are. I don't know how I waited this long because after I got the ring yesterday, I just wanted to ask you. Originally I planned on waiting till November, on our fifth year anniversary. And then halfway home on the plane, all these 'what ifs?' popped in my head. But my heart was telling me that now was the right moment to ask you because my love for you matters most, not the 'what ifs?'. And the perfect moment is when you feel that it's perfect, not when it's planned. And me asking you to marry me in the doorway of our daughter's bedroom thirty minutes after I came home seemed like the perfect moment to me."

"It was the perfect moment. You're perfect for me. And I'm perfect for you. We're here… we got this far together, we have a daughter and a life together, and now it is just right to start planning for the rest of our lives. I love you, Edward. I can't wait to be your wife."

"I can't wait to be your husband, love." I kissed her passionately, wrapping my arms tighter around her, her small hands cradling my head. I could feel the coldness of the platinum of her ring against my neck, making me twitch. Our tongues tangled together and my desire for her was growing… literally.

My cock pushed up against her stomach and she whimpered. I pulled back, lifting her up bridal style and carrying her into our bedroom down the hall. Kicking the door shut, I shuffled us to our bed as Bella kept pressing kisses to my jaw. _God, I needed her._

Plopping her down in the center of the bed, I fell on top of her, kissing her lips and trailing kisses down her chin to the hollow part of her neck and sucking at it.

"Oh!" she moaned. "I need you, Edward. It's been too long."

"I know, baby. I need you so much, too. I'm gonna explode if I don't get inside you now."

Bella quickly pushed off my jacket and pulled my shirt apart, buttons flying everywhere. When Bella is horny, she's eager to get our clothes off, even if it meant destroying a few pieces. And I'm guilty for that, too. I've thrown out many dress shirts because of her eagerness, and I've ripped a few lovely pieces of lingerie and dresses because I needed her naked.

As I lifted my old gym tee shirt from high school off her (she loved wearing my clothes… and I loved seeing her wearing them) and yanked down her tiny shorts and her panties, and she fought to push down my unzipped dress pants and boxers with her feet, I reveled in the gorgeous sight of her being naked for me and only me.

She's not as thin as she was almost five years ago, as having a baby made her put on some weight, but I loved it. She was curvy now, in the right places, and it was just a little memento that she had our daughter. And the scar she has right above her pussy was another reminder that she gave us life. I loved that scar and I kiss it all the time whenever we make love because our daughter was made out of love.

And her breasts… _ungh,_ I loved them. Full and round with pert nipples that symbolized her arousal for me. I cupped one as I suckled on the other, grinding my hips into hers. Bella cried out as I pleasured her breasts with my mouth (her being extra sensitive) and pushed my cock against her clit in fast motions.

With a kiss to her lips I lined myself up with her entrance and slid in. _Fuck…_ it felt so good to be inside her again. Way too damn long!

"Edward…" she whimpered as I thrust in slow and hard.

"I know, baby." I knew it felt good for her and it felt good for me, too. We've always been in tune with each other whenever we made love or fucked. And it always got better the longer we've been together, learning new things we liked and trying new things as well.

I continued to push in and out of her, gripping onto her thighs tightly to keep them wrapped around my waist. Bella's nails were scratching against my back, urging me to pump faster and harder into her.

"Bella, I'm gonna come. I need you to come with me, baby," I groaned, kissing her hard on her mouth. With that she clamped around me, feeling her come hard around me. Her cries were muffled against my lips as I tried to prolong her orgasm with me kissing her. And then I couldn't hold back anymore and released inside her.

With three more thrusts I was done, completely sated and out of breath. I held myself up in my forearms, breathing in and out. Bella wasn't much better either, her panting and her chest rising and falling quickly with each breath intake.

When I got my breathing under control, I pressed a light kiss to Bella's lips. "I love you so much, Bella. I'm happy we're getting married."

"I love you, too, Edward. I've been waiting so long for this. Waiting for you. I'm so happy."

"Do you know when you want to get married?" I asked, rolling off her onto my side and pulling her into my chest so that we were spooning. I pecked her neck with small butterfly-like kisses, my lips barely grazing her flesh. Bella moaned, liking what I was doing.

"November 18th, Edward. On our fifth year anniversary. We might as well make our anniversary a true anniversary, don't you think?" she asked, turning her head to face me and stopping my ministrations.

"Sounds good, to me, love."

"I love you," she whispered. "You made me very happy. You always make me happy."

"Love you, too, baby. And I'm happy that you're happy, and that I make you happy. Your happiness is very important to me."

Bella turned over to face me, caressing my cheek with her left hand. I took her hand and kissed the diamond ring sitting on her finger, my hold on it lingering. Our fingers linked together as she leaned in to lovingly kiss me.

"Make love to me again, Edward."

"Yes."

And we did all night.

**-ooOoo-**

**A.N.: Thank you so much for reading! I really liked writing it and I only hope that you all like it.**

**This story was sort of inspired by my parents proposal almost twenty-four years ago (I just tweaked with it and added some Twilight fun to it). Of what I know (and I could be wrong on some things), my dad had gone to Hong Kong on vacation with his sister and his aunt and bought my mother's engagement ring there. I don't know if he originally planned on waiting a bit, but from what I was told when he got home he just asked my mother to marry him. No fancy schmancy dinner, no party or even in front of anyone else – just her. And of course she said yes! Otherwise my brother and I wouldn't be here! LOL! They've been married twenty-two years now, and very happily. I only hope I can get my own happy ending like that one day.**

**If you'd like to see what exact Tiffany products I picked out for the couple, here are the links:**

**- Edward's wedding band: **tiffany(.)com/Shopping/Item(.)aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=GRP00363&mcat=148204&cid=288152&search_params=s+5-p+1-c+288152-r+101323340+101288222+0-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+**  
>- Bella's engagement ring: <strong>tiffany(.)com/Engagement/item(.)aspx?GroupSku=GRP10056&selectedSku=27092896#f+0/0/0/0/4004/4004**  
>- Bella's wedding band: <strong>tiffany(.)com/Shopping/Item(.)aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=GRP04630&mcat=148204&cid=288152&search_params=s+4-p+7-c+288152-r+101323340+101323351-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+**  
>- Chloe's piggy (bunny) bank: <strong>tiffany(.)com/Shopping/Item(.)aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=18592339&mcat=148207&cid=288202&search_params=s+5-p+1-c+288202-r+101424819-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+


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